Planetary Devastation?

Ye Wuyue was puzzled when he heard the man call his name, and this space confused him as well.

"Who are you? Why do you know my name? And where is this?" Ye Wuyue asked, watching the man before him warily. The man gave off an exceptionally sharp feeling.

The man smiled upon hearing that. The expression did not quite suit his stern face, but it had to be said—he was incredibly handsome. Ye Wuyue was already feeling sour with jealousy.

"You just called my name, yet now that I'm standing before you, you can't recognize me?"

Ye Wuyue fell into thought.

He had just called this man's name... Looking at the forest of blades before him, a flash of insight suddenly struck him. He had thought this blade forest looked familiar earlier, and now that he looked again, it was exactly like Shinso after Shikai! Only the lengths varied.

Then that meant the man before him was... Shinso!

"You're Shinso!" Ye Wuyue cried out. At the same time, excitement rose in his heart. Being able to meet a manifested Zanpakuto meant he had a chance of training his Zanpakuto to Bankai.

When he had trained before, he had basically tried calling out his Zanpakuto's name every day. However, he had always been calling for Flowing Blade, Like Fire, since he had not possessed Shinso for very long.

Yet he had never once seen Flowing Blade, Like Fire's manifestation. If not for the fact that he could use Shikai, he would have suspected the system's Zanpakuto was some counterfeit knockoff. After all, although the original story had never revealed what Flowing Blade, Like Fire's manifestation looked like, it had stated that every Zanpakuto possessed its own soul. Flowing Blade, Like Fire was naturally no exception. As for why it had never responded to him, he had no idea.

Hearing Ye Wuyue's answer, Shinso nodded, confirming his guess.

"Then did you call me here to teach me Bankai?" Ye Wuyue asked excitedly.

To his disappointment, Shinso shook his head.

"Your Spiritual Pressure is still too weak. You do not even meet the conditions for me to manifest in the real world. Thinking of learning Bankai now is nothing but wishful thinking," Shinso said mercilessly.

Ye Wuyue's interest immediately plummeted.

"Then why did you call me here? My family outside is probably worried sick. I need to wake up quickly and let them know I'm fine."

Ye Wuyue looked around, trying to find a way out. When he saw the eastern side of this space, he froze. The scenery there was completely different from this side. Camellia trees covered the ground, their branches blooming with vivid red flowers. However, a large section of the camellia forest had been destroyed, ruining the view, and flames seemed to be burning at its center.

The utterly different environments left Ye Wuyue stunned. When he had watched Bleach before, the space where Ichigo Kurosaki's Zangetsu resided had been filled with tilted glass skyscrapers. There had never been two completely different environments like this.

The sight before him now confused him.

Could Shinso's inner world simply have such wildly contrasting styles?

"You saw it too, didn't you?" Shinso spoke.

"Isn't that part of your space?" Ye Wuyue asked in confusion.

Shinso shook his head.

"Of course not. I only arrived here not long ago. Originally, I should not have belonged to this world, and the person wielding me should not have been you. Some time ago, for reasons unknown, a force drew me here.

Even my space became joined with that one. I went over there to investigate, but unfortunately, there is a wall of flames at the center of that camellia forest. The temperature is simply too high. I could not break through it.

So I could only draw you here and see whether we could figure out what was going on. After all, that may also be the inner world of a Zanpakuto you possess. You should be able to enter it easily."

After Shinso explained, Ye Wuyue roughly understood what had happened.

But... Shinso seemed awfully curious...

Having learned the circumstances, Ye Wuyue decided to take a look at that space. After all, it concerned Flowing Blade, Like Fire's Bankai. If nothing had gone wrong, there was no way he should have called for Flowing Blade, Like Fire for so long without receiving the slightest response.

In the original story, calling out a Zanpakuto's correct name was enough to receive a response. Still, Ye Wuyue seriously suspected whether those Shinigami had simply tried names one by one. If they guessed right, they could use Shikai; if not, they kept trying.

Of course, that was merely his wild imagination.

Ye Wuyue started walking toward the camellia forest, with Shinso following eagerly behind him.

After reaching the center of this space, Ye Wuyue realized that what he had seen earlier had not been entirely accurate. This place had been devastated beyond recognition. The ground in the middle was riddled with craters, as if... it had gone through a great battle.

Moreover, several enormous spheres of earth and stone floated in the air above this space.

"What a shame. Such a beautiful sea of flowers has been ruined like this. Who knows what heartless bastard did it," Shinso said regretfully as he looked at the wrecked camellia forest.

Ye Wuyue stared at the massive spheres in midair, his heart shaking.

Those spheres looked exactly like the ones formed by Planetary Devastation. From the moment he entered this space, he had also sensed an incredibly dense aura of Chakra.

He did not know any sensing techniques at all; the Chakra aura was simply so powerful that he had noticed it immediately. Furthermore, it seemed to share the same origin as his own Chakra, yet it was far stronger.

Ye Wuyue became even more confused. Chakra actually existed within a space made of spirit particles, and it was this powerful. He could not imagine what had caused it.

Soon, Ye Wuyue arrived before the wall of flames Shinso had mentioned. The flames there were identical to those emitted by Flowing Blade, Like Fire's blade, but their temperature was far higher than when he wielded it.

Feeling the intense heat radiating from the fiery barrier, Ye Wuyue did not dare charge straight in and hesitated for a moment.

"What are you standing around for? Since this space is connected to your other Zanpakuto, why not use that Zanpakuto to slash through this barrier?"

Shinso's words woke Ye Wuyue up. Following his advice, he drew his Asauchi and released Flowing Blade, Like Fire.

"All things in the universe, turn to ashes. Flowing Blade, Like Fire!"

The moment Ye Wuyue finished speaking, the wall of flames before him suddenly dispersed. A mature woman in red sat cross-legged within it, though her clothes were somewhat tattered, as if she had been through a fierce battle.

The woman in red let out a long breath, and her clothes instantly repaired themselves. Then she opened her eyes, her pupils the color of rubies.

Just as Ye Wuyue was about to wipe away his drool, a fiery red figure flashed before him and kicked him without warning.

"For six years, you've done nothing but call and call! Today, big sister will let you scream to your heart's content!"

Ye Wuyue's body became a shooting star and slammed heavily into the ground in the distance. Sensing trouble, Shinso immediately slipped away to hide.